World's first 'tax' on Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7

puffishoes · 15-06-2012 09:41AM

Ah Morketing, god bless em.

runawaybishop · 15-06-2012 10:10AM

x_Ellie_x wrote: »

Instead of taxing them, why can't they re-direct them to microsofts website so they can download the newer version? Some people might not use computers that much and might not even know how to update their browsers.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/60896000/jpg/_60896332_ie7taxpopup.jpg

^^ they explain and direct you to get a proper browser.

krudler · 15-06-2012 10:15AM

Where To wrote: »

Good job I'm still on Netscape or I'd be really angry about this.

still a better browser than IE6 :pac:

wes · 15-06-2012 10:20AM

Why not just drop support instead, if its costing so much.....

Kev_2012 · 15-06-2012 10:27AM

As someone who works in the industry, this is a f*cking brilliant idea. I don't care how computer illiterate you are, you run windows update and get the newest version.

Do you try to play DVDs in your VCR?

The amount of time spent fixing stupid issues on older browsers is outrageous.

For Example :
PNGs cant be used in IE6
IE 6, 7 and 8 don't support HTML5 or CSS3
IE 6 and 7 have this really annoying bug that repeats texts in a totally different part of the window for no bloody reason. I know how to fix it, but it took a long time to figure it out!

And there is a lot more :mad:

Eoin · 15-06-2012 10:33AM

Kev_2012 wrote: »

As someone who works in the industry, this is a f*cking brilliant idea. I don't care how computer illiterate you are, you run windows update and get the newest version.

Do you try to play DVDs in your VCR?

The amount of time spent fixing stupid issues on older browsers is outrageous.

For Example :
PNGs cant be used in IE6
IE 6, 7 and 8 don't support HTML5 or CSS3
IE 6 and 7 have this really annoying bug that repeats texts in a totally different part of the window for no bloody reason. I know how to fix it, but it took a long time to figure it out!

And there is a lot more :mad:

So don't fix them and display a message recommending that the customer uses a different browser, rather than this type of arrogance from this company.

puffishoes · 15-06-2012 10:37AM

Eoin wrote: »

So don't fix them and display a message recommending that the customer uses a different browser, rather than this type of arrogance from this company.

it's nothing to do with arragonce, it's a marketing stunt and a win win situation.

I think it's rather clever considering IE has lost it's dominance in the browser wars.

runawaybishop · 15-06-2012 10:46AM

Eoin wrote: »

So don't fix them and display a message recommending that the customer uses a different browser, rather than this type of arrogance from this company.

That's pretty much what they did.

Eoin · 15-06-2012 10:55AM

runawaybishop wrote: »

That's pretty much what they did.

puffishoes wrote: »

it's nothing to do with arragonce, it's a marketing stunt and a win win situation.

I think it's rather clever considering IE has lost it's dominance in the browser wars.

At a technical level perhaps it might be the same, but there's a world of difference between recommending that someone upgrades their browser to get the best experience, and telling them that they're going to "tax" you because of the software running on your computer.

If their developers spent an inordinate amount of time catering for 3% of their site users, then they need the kick up the hole, not the 3% of their potential customers.

runawaybishop · 15-06-2012 11:00AM

Eoin wrote: »

At a technical level perhaps it might be the same, but there's a world of difference between recommending that someone upgrades their browser to get the best experience, and telling them that they're going to "tax" you because of the software running on your computer.

If their developers spent an inordinate amount of time catering for 3% of their site users, then they need the kick up the hole, not the 3% of their potential customers.

Did you take a look at the message they present to the users? Its in the linked article. They tell you IE 7 sucks, explain why they will tax you for using it, then link you to other browsers that don't incur a suckage tax. Its all clearly very tongue in cheek and an excellent marketing ploy.

Stark · 15-06-2012 11:03AM

Deleted User wrote: »

[rant]
Why are they penalising people who use older software!
[/rant]

Would you expect to be able to buy stuff online using Netscape 3?

StupidLikeAFox · 15-06-2012 11:04AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Sod it I'll buy somewhere else. :pac:

dolan pls

Eoin · 15-06-2012 11:04AM

Yes I did. The message is snide, not "tongue in cheek". I don't get how this is excellent marketing.

puffishoes · 15-06-2012 11:05AM

Eoin wrote: »

At a technical level perhaps it might be the same, but there's a world of difference between recommending that someone upgrades their browser to get the best experience, and telling them that they're going to "tax" you because of the software running on your computer.

If their developers spent an inordinate amount of time catering for 3% of their site users, then they need the kick up the hole, not the 3% of their potential customers.

You don't seem to get it.

It's nothing to do with the dev's the time the cost the tax.

It's about exposure, and they got it. O'Learly like almost.

The technicalities are completely irrelevant

puffishoes · 15-06-2012 11:06AM

Eoin wrote: »

Yes I did. The message is snide, not "tongue in cheek". I don't get how this is excellent marketing.

They were linked around the globe pretty much the whole day yesterday

you can't "buy" that sort of exposure.

It's genius.

runawaybishop · 15-06-2012 11:15AM

Eoin wrote: »

Yes I did. The message is snide, not "tongue in cheek". I don't get how this is excellent marketing.

snide/snīd/
Adjective:

Derogatory or mocking in an indirect way: "snide remarks".

^^ there is nothing indirect about their mocking.

Dravokivich · 15-06-2012 11:18AM

Kev_2012 wrote: »

As someone who works in the industry,

...you should know that in corperate environments there tends to be a big emphasise on version control for the software used by the end user.

A lot of people doing online shopping, might wish to do so while on lunch, but would be put off here if they are required to use IE6 in work.

puffishoes · 15-06-2012 11:19AM

Dravokivich wrote: »

...you should know that in corperate environments there tends to be a big emphasise on version control for the software used by the end user.

A lot of people doing online shopping, might wish to do so while on lunch, but would be put off here if they are required to use IE6 in work.

I would hope there's not a sys admin on the planet that hasn't moved away from IE6

Einhard · 15-06-2012 11:27AM

Hilarious that on top of all the other petty snobberies in the world, we now have browser snobbery!

Dravokivich · 15-06-2012 11:28AM

puffishoes wrote: »

I would hope there's not a sys admin on the planet that hasn't moved away from IE6

It is never a Sys Admins decision.

puffishoes · 15-06-2012 11:32AM

Dravokivich wrote: »

It is never a Sys Admins decision.

Well that's not true in a lot of smaller companies it is as there's only one person to make it.

If MS is not offering support for IE6 well no IT department should be regardless of who's making the decision.

puffishoes · 15-06-2012 11:32AM

Einhard wrote: »

Hilarious that on top of all the other petty snobberies in the world, we now have browser snobbery!

this is not new.

Dravokivich · 15-06-2012 11:42AM

puffishoes wrote: »

Well that's not true in a lot of smaller companies it is as there's only one person to make it.

If MS is not offering support for IE6 well no IT department should be regardless of who's making the decision.

Take note of 3 things:

1) I said corporate environments, which would refer to a large user base.
2) My comment was for SW versioning which is generally upto Change Control, "Sys Admins" (which isn't even a term used in IT) are generally participents, but don't determine policy.
2) The OP references IE7, not IE6.

Pushtrak · 15-06-2012 11:44AM

I was happy with Chrome for a long time. Though, got fed up of it crashing and having that sign in to google thing that was part of chrome, and application specific passwords. It'd crash, and suddenly predictive text on urls was gone. Normally you type the first letter of whatever site you want to go on to, and it'll come up, but if it crashes you'll have to sign in and feck about with application specific passwords again.

Have moved on to Opera now, though. I moved to Chrome because I wasn't happy with Firefox any more. Though I hear the latest version is quite good. I haven't had Opera crash one me yet in the 2 weeks I've been using it. The home page is great, you can set as many pages to the speed dial as you want. Have something like 70. Biggest issue is that when a new version comes out it doesn't seem to want to automatically update as per the other browsers which isn't great but in terms of performance am finding it a lot better. No crashes, very few slowdowns.

I can't imagine going back to IE except when on another PC when I'm downloading another browser.

puffishoes · 15-06-2012 11:48AM

Dravokivich wrote: »

Take note of 3 things:

1) I said corporate environments, which would refer to a large user base.
2) My comment was for SW versioning which is generally upto Change Control, "Sys Admins" (which isn't even a term used in IT) are generally participents, but don't determine policy.
2) The OP references IE7, not IE6.

You referenced IE 6.

puffishoes · 15-06-2012 11:50AM

Pushtrak wrote: »

I can't imagine going back to IE except when on another PC when I'm downloading another browser.

I generally flick around most of the well known ones.

IE 9 is pretty solid I think the IE bashing will be attached to IEx regardless tho.

Dravokivich · 15-06-2012 11:56AM

puffishoes wrote: »

You referenced IE 6.

Whoops my mistake sorry, meant to say legacy or something of the sort. dam.

15-06-2012 11:58AM

Stark wrote: »

Would you expect to be able to buy stuff online using Netscape 3?

No, just put up a screen that says that that version is no longer supported and to use something else. There are alternatives, just don't try to take extra money off people who probably don't know better and are quite likely not well off.

I don't support companies that encourage "planned obsolescence", I disagree with the principal that we must replace perfectly working stuff with newer stuff just because someone decides it's too old!

If it is no longer capable of doing the job intended or is wasteful relative to current models, then that's a different story.

SmilingLurker · 15-06-2012 12:27PM

I was looking at stats for a company that does 85+% of its business online. All Irish people would know the brand. A huge amount of work goes into ie6.... The company had hits from ie5!!!!

Excellent idea. Supporting old ie cost the company in question a fortune... Which all customers had to pay indirectly.

IE upgrades are free for licenced software. If unlicensed, I do not approve, but chrome and Firefox and others are free and better.

Kev_2012 · 15-06-2012 12:34PM

Eoin wrote: »

So don't fix them and display a message recommending that the customer uses a different browser, rather than this type of arrogance from this company.

Many companies want their work to look well cross-browser, the extra cost in fixing these issues is very high. Why should design and software companies have to foot the bill for the end user's ignorance? This is a message to update the browser by the way, it's just making sure that it is changed rather than suggesting it.

Dravokivich wrote: »

...you should know that in corperate environments there tends to be a big emphasise on version control for the software used by the end user.

A lot of people doing online shopping, might wish to do so while on lunch, but would be put off here if they are required to use IE6 in work.

Well if that's what it takes. I really don't understand why it is such a big deal to run Windows updates. These are most often for security reasons also, so it would be fairly negligent of the IT support staff/company not to have these run automatically tbh.

World's first 'tax' on Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7

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